How to Make Your Job Search More Like a Job

You've probably heard it said: A job search is a job in itself. But are you treating it like one?

When you're working in a traditional environment, your day might look something like this: You wake up with an alarm at a regular hour. After some coffee, you shower, don a professional-looking outfit and head out, timing your commute so you can start your day at 9 a.m. sharp. While at the office you have a regular routine, punctuated by collaboration with colleagues, phone calls, e-mails and the like — all in the name of meeting specific goals. At the end of the day, you turn off your computer, shut off your light, and head home to relax and spend time with friends and family. The next day, you do it all over again.

Not everyone's job looks like this, and not every workday looks like another, but experts who spoke with TheLadders said your job search should look an awful lot like the aforementioned scenario.

One of the most important things to do is also one of the most basic: Get up, get dressed and get going early. Starting your day with purpose is key to ensuring that the day will be productive.

"First thing, and I'm not trying to be funny, is get dressed," said Bruce Hurwitz, president and CEO of Hurwitz Strategic Staffing, an executive recruiting agency. "Granted, you're not going to an office, but the desk where your computer is, is now your office. You've got to feel professional, so get dressed. You can't do it in your PJs — it won't work."

Also important is dedicating space to your job search and optimizing that space for the task at hand.

Hurwitz recommends making the area in which you conduct your job search as much like your old workplace as possible. "Atmospherics are very important," he said. "If you feel like you're at home and not working, then you're at home and you're not working. Do whatever you would do in your office. If you had a radio on for background noise in your office, turn on a radio. Don't change your work habits. Your work habits have to stay the same, whether you're employed or whether your work now is finding a job."

In addition, goals and objectives are just as important in the job search as they are on the job

For example, Karla Porter, director of workforce development and HR for the Greater Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Chamber of Business and Industry, recommends setting goals for the number of phone calls you will make and the number of resumes you will send out each day.

And, just as you would be accountable to a manager for what you accomplish in the workplace, you need to be accountable to yourself for what you accomplish during your job search.

Hurwitz recommends keeping a searchable log of all of your job-search activities: contacts with whom you spoke, which resumes you have sent out, what follow-up you have done, what cold calls you have made. Such a log will help in very pragmatic ways, such as avoiding duplication, but it will also help you spot trends and opportunities — kind of a customer relationship management (CRM) system where you are the customer.

The 20-hour work week

Career experts also note the importance of establishing set hours for your job search, both to make the process more effective and to maintain a healthy mindset. By not explicitly "shutting it off," your life can easily become consumed by the quest for work.

While experts agree that applying workplace principles to the job search makes the process more productive, they say that 40 hours a week is too much to dedicate to scouring the Web, polishing your resume and making follow-up calls.

"What used to take 40 hours can now be accomplished in 20," Porter said. "Being unemployed is stressful enough, and it's overkill to spend 8 hours a day dwelling on it."

Porter recommends using some of the "other 20 hours" a week volunteering or focused on some other pursuit. In addition to the good you do for yourself by doing for others, volunteering can lead to networking and job leads, she said. Hurwitz advises job searchers to use part of their day keeping current by reading industry journals, taking classes and searching for relevant news articles and blogs.

In the end, say experts, whether your week is filled with work or with looking for work, it's important to do one thing: Take the weekend off.

Featured Jobs

CEO/Head of School

Creative Learning Academy of Pensacola, Inc. “CLA” is seeking a chief executive to become Head of School beginning with the 2013-2014 school year. The successful candidate must have a history of significant business leadership and a proven track record of growth. Experience at an accredited independent school preferred, but not required.

Director of Development

The WRUS Director of Development will have the opportunity to work within a collaborative, student centered professional environment, vigilant in our dedication to the success of bright high school students with learning differences, bound for college and post secondary learning.

Fundraising and Development Director

Major Non-Profit organization in Carlsbad, NM is looking for a Fundraising and Development Director to join their team. This candidate must be someone with a proven track record developing and coordinating annual giving, donor stewardship and securing other forms of giving for a major Non-Profit organization.

Major Gifts Officer

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews ( The Fellowship ) is seeking a resourceful and dynamic individual as a Major Gifts Officer to promote our mission and build strong support among major donors. The MGO will engage, cultivate, and solicit current and prospective major donors in the western region of the US.

Regional Director

The Regional Director supports multiple Executive Directors (EDs, 5-6) and community based Boards of Directors (5-6) in their region, serves as the Chief Executive of the region and is responsible for leadership and management development and support, board and resource development, marketing, and training needs of the assigned team members to ensure all performance goals are exceeded.

Director of Major Gifts and Planned Giving

Responsibilities include developing and implementing a major and planned gifts development plan, and building a high-performing team, to achieve fundraising goals; managing a portfolio of donors; and serving as the primary liaison with financial advisors, attorneys, and other partners in the promotion and acquisition of gifts.

Business Administrator

The position is responsible for the management of all financial and business aspects of the organization. Job responsibilities include: accounts payable and receivable, banking transactions and account, reconciliations, payroll, budget preparation and tracking, administration and record keeping of employee benefit programs, maintain all insurances, maintain donor and financial databases and preparation of financial reports.

President and CEO

The United Way of Northern Arizona is seeking a proven, energetic leader as its next President and CEO. The new President and CEO will succeed the current President and CEO who is retiring after more than 14 years of outstanding, innovative leadership. UWNA has been recognized nationally for creating innovative collaborations and partnerships in its community impact areas of education, income and health.

President/CEO

The Methodist Home for Children and Youth, a multi-faceted residential care home in Macon, Georgia, that addresses the needs of abused, neglected, and abandoned children, seeks a visionary administrator to guide and advance the operations and services as the President and CEO.

Director of Foundation Relations

Seeking a Director of Foundation Relations to lead the effort to build and sustain relationships with national foundations and to leverage resources of the foundation community to help NSALA's reach its organizational goals and grow its new national initiative.

Grants Manager

Use your experience with the grantmaking cycle to develop online applications, draft grant agreements, and track and review grantee reports. You will have primary responsibility for managing the grants management team's use of database and legal compliance technology.

Chief Executive Officer

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) oversees all operational aspects of the organization. This leader will be charged with oversight of fiscal and financial affairs, services provided, staff management, and the cultivation of community partnerships.

Fundraising Manager

CRY America is CRY, Child Rights and You America Inc, a non profit organization registered in the USA in November 2002 that works towards restoring basic rights to underprivileged children, especially Indian. At CRY America we believe that each of us as individuals can make a difference.

Director of Foundation Relations

Virginia Commonwealth University has an opening for an experienced, team-oriented Director of Foundation Relations. This position will report to the Senior Associate VP for Development and will serve as a member of the leadership team responsible for engaging national foundations. This individual will identify and cultivate new foundation partnerships on behalf of the university.

Executive Director

With support and input from members of the board and staff, the Executive Director ensures the ethical integrity of the Foundation in daily operations as well as through strategic alliances and in various communiqué.

Vice President of Development

Reporting directly to the President/CEO and serving on the executive team, directing a small team of fundraising professionals, this position will develop goals and strategies for fundraising programs incorporating major gifts, annual funds, government grants, corporate & foundation relations and planned giving.

Senior Director, Foundation Relations

The Senior Director will focus on building high-level relationships between top foundations that will increase giving to support the American Heart Association mission. He or she will collaborate with volunteers and staff throughout the Western States Affiliate to achieve success. An emphasis will be on closing six-figure gifts to help us change and save lives.

Director of Peer to Peer Fundraising

This position is responsible for the development and execution of the Agency's Peer to Peer fundraising strategy. The Peer to Peer strategy will focus on empowering individuals and groups to raise funds on behalf of the agency by allowing them to communicate and solicit prospective donors from their own networks and communities.